today the funerals in newtown begin. our mourning will go on for a long time, but our work must continue over the days and the weeks ahead. so i opiniointend to work with my colleagues in order to change the law and change the culture of violence. so, mr. president, i also rise to speak on my commerce and justice bill. i want to focus on my national responsibilities as the chairperson of the aeption pro appropriations committee on commerce, justice, and science. but i also want to comment that maryland was hard-hit, too, particularly the communities in the lower shore, and especially the community of crisfield. i am u.a.e. a going to speak more about -- i'm going to speak more about maryland and what we faced during hurricane sandy tomorrow. it was ironic that when the hurricane hit, we faced hurricane winds in one part of our state, and we had a blizzard and a northeaster in another part of our state. so we had state troopers on snowmobiles trying to go into rescue vulnerable populations up in garrett county, and then w